Wow! This post is LONG overdue. My daughter Courtney and I took a trip to Berlin and Paris in May of 2007. She speaks both languages having had 5 years of French between high school and college and then in college changing her major to German and international studies, spending her last year at Wayne State University studying in Munich, Germany.

There are a lot of pictures to look at here but that was the original intent of this blog - travel and pictures. I'll be posting in two parts. First, Germany then Paris.

Richard happened to be flying out on the same day as we were so we all headed to the airport together.
Courtney and I flew into Frankfurt and had a long layover so we rented a room at a quaint little hotel recommended by our cab driver. I can't remember if this picture taken from the plane when we were flying into Frankfurt or into Berlin.
Courtney has had bad experiences with luggage on flights as shows on her face in this shot in Frankfurt. Not to worry; our bags came through just fine. (We were on Lufthansa, I believe.) When she went to Germany for her last year of study, British Airways lost her luggage for a week! There she was, knowing no one and on her own with no luggage except for what she carried (which wasn't much.) They never did reimburse her for anything. In blog part two of this trip I'll tell you of another British Airways blunder.
Hotel rooms are very tiny in Europe and this one in Frankfurt was no exception. Plus, there was no elevator.
Here we are just after checking in.
And the tiny bathroom with sliding doors that slide against the wall to save space; the shower is to the right, sink in front of you as you step in and the toilet to the left. Very space efficient.
Looking left out the window...
And looking right...And Courtney doing what we came here for. It was a wonderfully warm day in Frankfurt. One thing that I find amazing is that the windows in cities in Europe don't have screens on them. They just open to the world! No bugs to deal with.

Here is a video I shot of this tiny space they call a hotel room.


On our way to Berlin; Courtney grabbing a bite to eat in the airport.
Once we got to Berlin, we had to take a couple trains to get close to the hotel at which we had reservations. Here we sat waiting for the train at 8:45 pm.
After getting as close as we could by train, we had to walk the rest of the way which was about a half-mile. It was getting dark by then and this shot was taken on our way. This tower is called Fernsehturm and is the second tallest structure in Europe and rises out of the center of the famous square, Alexanderplatz.I didn't get more pictures of what happened next but it was quite a bummer. When we got to our hotel, Arena Hotel, which was located in an area of downtown Berlin, the woman at the desk told us that we couldn't stay there because they were being shut down. She said they had just been told by the authorities that morning and couldn't continue to operate. She told us that she had made reservations for us at another hotel and they would pay for both the cab fare to get us there and for renting the hotel room. We waited quite a while for the cab to arrive and when we finally got on our way we drive...and drive...and drive...Way out of the city! Good thing Courtney could speak German because we finally said something to the driver and told him what happened. He stopped the cab and made a phone call and told us that he knew of a better hotel for us to stay and it was in the city. Yes, it was a better hotel, about triple the price come to find out at checkout. The driver told us a price but somehow he was wrong. Oh, well. It was nice to stay in a hotel that had spacious rooms.
After we cleaned up a bit we went out to a hostel where a friend of Courtney's, Adrian Dosti, works. Here's a little video of them seeing each other again.

I had never been in a hostel so I took a video of the inside common area.

Their mutual friend Federico (I call him "the cute boy from Italy") arrived a bit later and you could tell that they really liked being all together again. The four of us spent a day sight-seeing in Berlin.
This is the Brandenburg Gate, the only thing remaining of what used to be a series of gates through which visitors entered the city. It was completed in 1791 with an extensive renovation prior to Germany's hosting of the World Cup in 2006.
The former Berlin Wall ran through the plaza on one side of the Brandenburg Gate, which was closed from 1961 through 1989. The wall is gone now but the outline remains perserved in the street so visitors can picture what the area looked like when it was fully divided. In 1987, President Reagan delivered his famous "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" speech just inside the West Berlin side.

I took this video in the plaza of the Gate. There are a lot of performance artists that hang out there.


Other art in the plaza:

This is the Reichstag building, the country's capital building. It first opened in 1894 as the center of government. It was refurbished, rebuilt, and reopened in 1999 as the capital of unified Germany.
A street view near the capital.

On our way to the Berlin Hauptbahnhof (translation: main train station) we walked through an open park and through the Holocaust Memorial, designed by architect Peter Eisenman. It opened in 2005 and is made of two parts, the above ground part that takes up a whole city block, and below where there is an information center. The ground level part is composed of rows of concrete slabs of various heights. Quoting Wikipedia, "According to Eisenman's project text, the slabs are designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere and the whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason."


Here are a couple pictures of Courtney's friend Adrian walking through the memorial.

Federico and Courtney walking through the sculpture.The park on the way to the hauptbahnhof had one of those cool fountains that kids like to play in and get wet.

Also inside this park across from the capital is this sculpture. The only information I can find on it states that it is a memorial to the 96 Reichstag member of the opposition parties killed by the Nazis. I thought it was quite a stunning piece.

As you can see, the names are part of the slabs.

Now, on to the Berlin Hauptbahnhof. It is a very modern building, huge enough to house stores and such. It reminded me of a mall here in the US with trains running through it. The station sits alongside a pretty river, the river Spree.
This was pretty cool. There were chairs set up along the river facing the hauptbahnhof. Anyone can go sit and relax. Another view of the river. These next three pictures are taken inside the train station.

Of course, a trip to Berlin is not complete without seeing 'The Wall.'

Here is a hole in the wall. There was a gap in the wall and you could see the other side, along the river. There was a lot of creativity displayed on the wall.
We saw a young artist finishing his touches. These shots were taken while crossing a bridge on our walk from the wall to the shopping area of downtown. Trains and cranes everywhere! It seemed like the whole city was undergoing a transformation.
This is the famous Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gadachtniskirche. Gadachtniskirche translates to 'memory church.' After an allied bombing raid on Berlin in 1943, only part of this church was left standing.The church was known for its beautiful glass mosaics decorating the interior.
I wanted to experience the bus in Berlin so we took a short ride while we were exploring downtown. Here's a cute girl I saw on the bus!I caught her trying to take my picture. I call it 'Taking me taking you.'We actually saw a small, green park in downtown while looking out the bus window.
A busy downtown. The building shown in the background is called The Hackescher Markt.
This is The Sony Centre on Berlin's historic Potsdamer Platz. It consists of a complex of buildings grouped around a central atrium. Eight individual buildings are used for offices, apartments, cinemas, and an art museum. I thought it was perfect photographic material.I believe this shot was taken somewhere around the Sony Center.This was a cool store window display. I got a kick out of this vehicle. I think I remember these being 'for hire.' I could be wrong, though.

We took a break for lunch.
I had to get this picture for Richard. Adrian ordered wienerschnitzel, as you can see. Richard is a BIG fan of the German staple.
Here are a few pictures taken in various train stations.
Cute ad.Nothing's free! Gotta pay to pee!

Sometimes there were button pushers to close and open the doors to the trains. Looks like a fun job, eh? I guess you could have fun with it if there were belligerent people :) !
We stopped to grab another bite and drink later on and I took a few pictures using a cool color setting on my camera. Here are a couple of TCBFI and one of Courtney.


And I'll end this posting with a few more pictures taken out and about. It was a fantastic trip, especially spending the time with my daughter. Watch for the second posting, the second half of this trip: PARIS!

Danger, Will Robinson, danger!

Remember that show, Lost In Space? It was great. I'll bet to see it now would make you cringe at the lack of production quality. I can remember what the landscape looked like in the show; fake beige mounds representing the terrain.

Take a look at this Skype screen shot that popped up on my computer.
In case it's too tough to read the small type, it's telling me that my computer is infected with a virus.
Then it says, "Recommendation: Users running vulnerable version should install a repair utility immediately. Your system IS affected, download the patch from the address below ! Failure to do so may result in severe computer malfunction." Then it gives a link to click on.

This is a very typical way for something known as a trojan horse to be loaded on a computer. A trojan horse is very bad because it takes over your computer. According to the Wikipedia entry, "Malicious Trojan Horse programs are used to circumvent protection systems in effect creating a vulnerable system to allow unauthorized access to the user's computer."

When I saw this pop up on my computer I knew immediately what it was. But that is only because my husband is an expert in IT security. I wonder how many computers they were able to infect with this scheme.

Beware! Danger, Will Robinson!

The Eye of the Amaryllis

That's actually the name of a great children's book by Natalie Babbitt. I will soon learn up close and personal what the eye looks like. Check out this plant that I'm growing in a pot in my house. I took my mother to Odd Lots, something she likes to do about once month with me for whatever reason. We meander through the isles searching for bargains. Last time we were there I found a couple different varieties of bulbed plants and me being the sucker for plants that I am, I bought both. They came as a kit with the plastic pot, potting material in compact disk form, and the bulbs. One pot came with one amaryllis bulb and the other with three narcissus bulbs.

The amaryllis has surprised me as to the height it has grown. And now it has started to open. I can't wait to see its full beauty. Here are a couple pictures and an extra one of my cat.

Etsy

It's official! I've set up my Etsy shop. If you go directly to etsy.com, search on Pottery59 (you have to select the 'Sellers; Usernames' choice). I've listed three items so far. We'll see how they do. You can also use this link: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6440109

While you're there you will no doubt want to check out all the other cool stuff made by wonderfully talented people. It's a great place to go holiday shopping.

Some of the good ones

These are a couple of the garden art mushrooms. The maroon one stands 7 1/2 inches and the yellow one is 10 inches. I'm pretty happy with these. I can't wait to glaze the other 3 tops that made it through the firing and also to make more. They're fun! I'm going to go on www.etsy.com now and see if I can set up a store to sell my work. Thanks for the encouragement, V and Richard!

A time to create is followed by a time to be humble

My worry was a bit misplaced. The anticipation that comes with firing a load in the kiln is fun and nerve-wracking at the same time. I kept peeking into the little hole in the top to see if I could make anything out. I have to look when it is hot but not up to its final temp because once it gets that hot the only thing I can see is a bright, bright orange color, the color of fire. I carefully snapped a picture of what I could see through the hole and I didn't like what I saw. My heart sunk but it was a good warning to get myself psyched to open the kiln to mayhem.
The lower shelf, with the mushroom stems, fired without mishap but the upper shelf - WHOA! Was there an explosion!!
Here is the bottom shelf with a few shards from the top shelf.
All was not lost and I quickly brushed a top glossy glaze on the pieces that needed it and also made some test tiles of my new glazes. Here is the result, some of the spoon rests completed along with a couple mushroom tops.
I'm looking for a good vibrant red glaze but red is a tough color to produce without lead. Here is a test tile of the red I have right now. The second picture is of a test I did with the red and then glazed over with a crackle effect glaze. Pretty cool, I think.
So, I've shed a few tears for lost pieces, lost time producing but I've learned a lesson or two and will keep playing in the mud!

Time to create!

My hands have been busy in the clay again. It feels so good when I get going playing in the mud! I have been working on Christmas presents and I loaded my first bisque firing this morning of all the things I've been working on. This is what the bottom shelf looked like after I was done loading it. I put the things that I thought could possibly explode separate from the other clay pieces in which I have more confidence to stay in one piece. Pieces can explode if there is air inside the clay with no way out.

The long, vertical tubular things are the stems to the mushroom garden art I'm working on. The round base at the bottom will get buried in the earth for support. The stacked triangular things are test tiles for my new glazes. I'm all geeked to see the new colors!

These are the mushroom tops. Some of them are colored already with underglaze. They will then get another coat of clear over them for the glaze firing. The others will be glazed with regular fire glazes, colors to be determined later when I see my new colors.
This is a platter and dip set. I painted some under glaze on them but will also add over glazes for the second firing.
Here are two different pieces, a candle holder on the left and a soap dish on the right.

I've been working on a bunch of different spoon rests. Here are two pictures of seven of them. Five of them have been decorated with underglazes and then will be coated with clear glaze for the final firing.

These little gems were made by Hannah. She just created them one day by just playing in the clay. They are ring holders; a great idea, I think. They are so cute! I told her if she produces a lot of them I will take them to the local art shops in Birmingham and see if they will sell them for her.
These two pieces are stamps used to imprint into clay. My daughter, Courtney, and I plan on making more soap and I want to make soap molds. I thought it would be fun to have designs in the molds. I might use these for that purpose.Here are a few 'boxes' I have made. I feel funny calling them boxes as they are round but I guess a box can be round, as in a hat box. I'll glaze these with over glazes and maybe put a marble at the bottom of each one for a cool effect.


Here is the top shelf partially loaded. Unfortunately, I only have two shelves right now. With the bisque firing the pieces can get stacked on top of each other without them sticking together. During the 2nd (glaze) firing the pieces cannot touch or else they will be co-joined. Also, with the boxes above, the lids have to stay on top of the piece so they will fit together after they shrink. So when I glaze the boxes the surfaces that touch cannot have glaze on them. Here's the full top load! Wish me luck! I hope I don't get too much explosion. I'll post pictures of the kiln and pieces when I open it up tomorrow (or later tonight!).